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// Ch. 13 Collaborators 
// Story: The Siren's Remorse 
// by TheronSniper 
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Ch. 13 Collaborators

Sunset had survived the night without the curse to ghost her, likely had to do with the Saandie and Pinkie Pie. Though one night of well rested deep REM out of a four days worth of insomnia only did so much. Though she supposed it was better than nothing, her way to school had been filled with quietly thinking to herself. A mostly cloudy sky painted with purples, blues, and naples yellow moved every gracefully with the gentle breeze further brightened her mood. While enjoying Pinkie’s amazing pastry, Sunset could really start to enjoy the day aside from the mental attack she endured. It took the sting out of last night, the soft fluffy texture and the mild sugary coating. Every bite soothing and delightful, just enough to allow her mind to be less stressed out to wonder what was going on around them.
So far, she figured she was dealing with a very powerful sorcerer or warlock who had someone else pulling the strings. It amazed her that such a feat could even be done considering the state all exiled are in when banished. They are stripped of their powers and caste into a portal to another world, or at least that is what the mages of old had done.
That punishment had stopped after Starswirl’s era, one of the few letters to survive time he wrote just for Canterlot’s budding Scholar Arcana. He claimed to warn who was to know if the sentenced were even powerless or couldn’t revive themselves after exile. Then there was the ramifications of the world they were sent to, all that Equestria and the pony tribes of old had done was to dump their vagrants onto others. Foul things thrown onto their doorstep, just so Equestria could have a peaceful atmosphere. He having done so himself was wracked with guilt during his later years. That guilt fueled the change for the better, those who had to be banished were instead sentenced to Tartarus no matter how difficult it was or what mages were involved.
Yet who could blame the ponies back then, they had such a fractured way of life and little to unify their minds into a better collective. Sunset read through their own problems of fighting each other tribe, invading griffons, or the greedy minotaurs as it were. That being said, how many fiends were committed to this world and how long had they been here? Where there still any alive and did they have real power or just a shadow?
She still awaited Twilight’s research to confirm that the gemstone that was stolen was indeed of no value or use. Without that, she had the sinking feeling that soon Equestria would have a fight on its hooves it wouldn’t be able to bounce back from. All the dastardly beings she read up on back in Canterlot, all those only viewable in the Black Tape Archives. Most were not an issue or thankfully no longer alive, but there was still a good list of the unsavory. The fight with the Saandie had been recorded into the book also meant for Twilight’s investigation. Whether she had met with the orchestrator or some pawn she wasn’t sure, but anyone who could do what they did was on the list.
Passing by a few newly built homes, she began to consider if the unseen force was anyone she knew or saw before. How long had they been lurking about waiting for something like the Sirens to come through?
Any teacher, shopkeeper, policeman, or even a student in her classroom could be an exile. It hadn’t occurred to her until now the dangers lurking all around. The curse upon her caste after they likely studied her like a wild animal, they may already know enough about her to likely use her to some end. She was a puppet, and her strings as obvious as they may be were unbreakable now.
“I just hope Twilight gets my message, she’ll know what to find. The question is, will it be in time?” she said to herself as the last bit of the sweet treat disappeared into her mouth.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated and yanked her mind from the fear and conjecture. She had just reached the last street to cross before the gates of the school. In her mishap, she pulled it out of her jacket’s pocket and noticed the urgency. As her eyes began to read, her feet kept moving onwards into traffic.
‘We have a problem. Dazzlings with Twilight. See photo.’
She flipped through the security code and unlocked the device, the text app came on screen. Three dots blinked for a few seconds before they vanished as the photo Rarity sent loaded. It was an angled image taken hastily, thankfully however, Rarity invested in a reliable phone which easily handled quick snaps without compromising the image.
A few emotions ran through her head at that point, one was surprise at seeing Twilight Sparkle eating with the Dazzlings. She looked happy as were the three sirens, chatting away like good friends would. Hope soon came as she figured Twilight had managed to make amends with them, and thus removing a potential foe off her list. She knew if anyone could unite people or ponies, it was the princess of friendship. Though as quickly as it came, Sunset remembered the portal was only functional every thirty moons for either side. With the next opportunity a month away, there was no possible way she would have come here unless she banished herself for some reason.
Worry jumped her heart considering that the possibility was there as a threat the Dazzlings possessed which had to be tamed through friendship?
Before she could think of more questions, she had ended up nearing the median of the roadway. A large street sweeper was on a collision course with Sunset as the driver had taken that particular moment to swig his hot coffee. None the wiser, both were going to make the biggest mistake of their lives by distraction. It took a few students heading to the gate entrance on the sidewalk across to tear Sunset from her musings.
“Hey!”
“Look out!”
“Truck! Move it!”
“Hey! Heeeeyyy!!”
The desperate cries had her snap to attention, but she chose to look at the erratic students and not to her left. She nearly looked to where a few of them were pointing to when something grabbed her right arm. Yanked harder than she’d ever been onto the grassy stripe of safety, she could hear the roar of a huge vehicle plow on through the green light intersection. Her boots stumbled as her vision went south, she lost her balance and face planted into the springy bermuda greenery.
“Well there lassie, ya ain’t due for the reaper for some time now. Ah wouldn’t be beg’in for him just yet.” She heard as she lifted her face and felt her nose for injuries, groaning from the impact.
“Ahhh…. what happened…” she asked still in a daze with the earthy floor just inches from her wobbling vision.
“Try not tae be a dobber eh?” a hearty laugh followed the adult’s voice as it moved to leave.
As she looked up, she saw the back of a city worker as they boarded a white truck geared out for maintenance and welding. She couldn’t make out their face, but she was sure it sounded like an older portly man. The white work vehicle soon joined in the flow of traffic and disappeared beyond her recovering senses. Sunset soon had a couple of students come over to her, one holding off traffic while the other lifted her up to get her across to the school.
“Sunset?! You’re not hurt are you? How many fingers am I holding up?” the boy asked calmly as her brain processed his face.
“Whaaa?” she nearly whispered as the world started to come into proper view. 
Once she could shake off the wooziness, Sunset realized she was looking at Flash. He had a hand on her back and another in front of her with three fingers wagging for her attention. The look of a worried companion looked welcoming to her, as she was still at a loss for what just happened.
“I said, how many fingers am I holding up?” he smirked seeing that she was coming to.
He lifted her up slowly and coaxed her across the road where Rose Luck still maintained a hold on the traffic. Flash was far too busy trying to get her to safety to notice the blush across Shimmer’s face. Antsy drivers were beginning to honk their horns as the road started to congest behind them.
Rose followed suit and nervously waved away the people off who had been patient enough. Freighters and cars soon took off, leaving the exhaust from their tail pipes for the three to choke on. Coughing out the minute smog, Flash set the girl down against the wall of the school’s perimeter brick fence. Kneeling by her with Rose next to him, the both of them caught their air before sharing a much needed laugh.
“You know, they say texting and driving are the worst things to combine. I’m going to say it’s safe to say texting and walking into traffic is just as bad.” Sentry jokingly said while patting Sunset’s shoulder.
“You scared my heart out of my ribcage! Could you not do that again, please?” Rose told her with her left hand over her chest to emphasize.
The reprimand was well earned that Sunset knew, “I’m sorry guys, I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately. Not a lot of sleep. I didn’t think at the time.”
Rose nodded, “Ya, Pinkie told me you’ve been having nightmares for awhile now. I’m tempted to have my cousin give you a ride to school until you sleep better. Or am I going to have to make sure you turn off your phone before you go out? Cause I can and will do.”
“Look guys, I’m fine really I am and I’ll walk with the girls next time. But… thanks for helping me, who was that man who pushed me? What happened?” Sunset asked remembering looking at the picture and soon having said hello to the grass.
The two students simply shrugged and shook their heads, whoever they were they didn’t stay long enough to be noticed.
“After you walked into the street while not looking both ways, you were going to be flattened by the city sweeper. No one really noticed him park his truck in the middle of the intersection when I’m guessing he saw you walk through the crosswalk. I’m sorry we can tell you much about it, we were too busy trying to warn you.” Rose answered feeling bad about having little information to give.
“Hey, just be glad someone saved your sorry butt from being turned into roadkill. Probably just your average everyday hero?” Flash smiled back at her when he noticed the summary Rose Luck gave earned a grimace from Sunset.
Shimmer had enough excitement without being told how death was nearly there to take her away. As it were and this was topping it to a new level. She could already start to remember why she nearly died, and it wasn’t making this moment any easier. She needed to be alone and resume her thinking, a dark cloud was coming and something was definitely not right with the world.
“Ya, just some random stranger who cared enough to help. Listen, guys… I need to head to class and catch my breath. My heart’s still pounding and I kind of want to put this all behind me.” She lied as she stood up and dusted off her orange skirt.
Flash gave her room as Rose and him rose, “Hey, if you ever need any help you can always come to us. Just please, promise you’ll be careful alright?”
“Ya, you may of wrecked the school once before, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care about your well being. Stop by my house later after school, I have some medicinal flowers that could help you sleep better.” Rose offered.
“Thanks guys.” She rubbed her left arm nervously, “I’ll see you around, and Rose I’ll see if I have time. Text you later!”
She wanted to get away fast to avoid the uneasiness around Flash’s kindness. Being her past boyfriend, it made the situation very awkward for her. Knowing how he took to Twilight on both her ventures to this world, it wouldn’t be right to make any more of a stronger bond with him than what was already there. As she left waving goodbye, she shivered at the close call she had. Of all things to do her in, reckless jaywalking wasn’t a possibility she thought of.
Taking twenty minutes to push it all away and regain her character, Sunset found her resolve. She had arrived at her Chemistry class, leaning against the wall next to the door of first class. It was still early enough before the teacher even appeared, and she wanted to analyze Rarity’s photograph without being under threat of vehicular manslaughter.
With the adrenaline finally leaving her system, she breathed in and out slowly to calm her jittery hands. Holding the phone to her face she wiped away previous ideas from before and favored a clean slate for a better analysis. A near death experience could easily do that for anyone.
Looking to the image that loaded once again onto the screen, it was as clear as day. The three defeated Sirens sat in that fancy cafe with Twilight Sparkle, there was no other image or additional data to go through. She simply saw a meeting of two different forces having a chummy of a time. Of course there was the unique attire she wore, some kind of fancy dress and rather dorky looking glasses. A though formed of Twilight trying to avoid being detected, she even had her hair bunched up too.
The portal wasn’t set to reopen for awhile nor could it be forced open. It meant she came here another way for some dire purpose to talk to the sirens. The only other reason could be was as she was told before. The other elements of magic had versions of themselves in this world. That meant there was a chance Twilight existed here as a human, an idea that was not comforting if it were indeed true. A mind like hers cavorting with the likes of the Dazzlings could cause some trouble; no doubt about it.
Turning off her phone and shoving it into her jacket, “But their abilities were stripped! I saw their pendants shatter, they can’t have any more influence in this world… unless…” she said to herself.
The missing gemstone that was stolen had to have been their doing or at the very least that man who was seeing Sonata. As devious as Adagio was, that story was likely a cover when they crossed paths in mid conversation. Perhaps it was the same being who invaded her sanctity of mind? 
So then if somehow the Sirens were a part of some huge scheme, they now had this world’s twilight allied with them. There was no other explanation considering how much they likely despised the Rainbooms and her from preventing them to get away with slaving everyone with their songs.
Sunset was jarred from contemplation, the communication device vibrated as Rarity sent another text. It was about her and all the girls to gather in the cafeteria where she’d speak of what she overheard during lunch. That girl wasn’t the type to gossip unless everyone was around her whether a blessing or a fault. Though it was becoming a growing itch in the back of Sunset’s mind as to what was overheard. It would make all the difference in their research over what was going on.
“I will get to the bottom of this.” She vowed to herself before the first bell rang.


When the break period came, Sunset had found herself slacking in her classes in favor of drawing conclusions to their dilemma. It was a hit to her studies she could afford for the time being. While her professors and instructors babbled on of the next test or assignment, Sunset pondered solutions even if it was a bit early to do so. They could try to strike peace with the Dazzlings again, only without Rainbow in tow or anyone else for that matter. If they really had a working stone on them, anyone but her would be affected. Which then negated her plan seeing as the two groups would fight in the end under some kind of influence.
The other idea was to befriend Twilight and see if they could forge a bond of some kind. They wouldn’t try to tear her away from them, but simple add to her friends list. On the other hand of course, she’d have to resort to shocking her into who the Dazzlings were and might still be if she was innocent to their doings. There were other ideas, but most were not very reliable or short of lies and deceit which Sunset wouldn’t even dream of using. Unless it truly came down to that of course, Equestria and this world came first.
She strolled through the double doors into the cafeteria, blocking out the cacophony of chatter, clanging of eatery, and the kitchen staff at work. Her mind in overtime, her legs walked her right past the lunch line and straight to the vacant table the group used every time. Normally a place for cheery upcoming fun activities or trading notes around for exams, today it would be shadowed with what news was to come.
No one was there just yet, she had arrived early enough in hopes to catch Rarity first. She took her seat and looked at the photo again and remembered the Saandie’s words. Though she wanted to mark them as lies and false claims, a part of her felt there was something there to go with. It obviously was their only way of getting to her without showing themselves, and they knew about the hidden information as well. Somehow they were aware of the archive which was equally troubling considering they were specific about information she had to know.
“Hey Shimmer, not eat’n today?” Applejack spoke and brought the girl back to reality as she sat down across from her.
“Oh uh, I’ll get something later. Not really hungry right now.” She smiled at the farm girl who took the seat before her.
“From what Pinkie’s told us you need to be eat’n right as much as getting a good night’s rest. You ain’t gonna be fight’n with a full head and half a body.” Applejack waved her fork at her friend in jest.
“I’m fine, really, and I promise to get something after Rarity tells us what she heard.” Sunset put her hands up to placate.
“The girls should be here soon, and what’s this all about that Rarity’s got her panties in a bunch?” she said as she speared into an apple tart and began to devour her meal.
Sunset grimaced and put on a rather serious face, “We have a problem and I’m not sure how to handle it, but I can’t say much else until Rarity tells me what she overheard.”
Having had her phone already out, Shimmer showed off the image and even zoomed in to the target of interest.
“Well when did Twilight get back so soon? I’m surprised she’s not met up with us. Wait didn’t the portal only open every so often?” Applejack set her food down and looked closer at the picture, “Wait… is she with those folk? Is she try’n to get some peace between us and them? And why is she in a Crystal Prep uniform?”
Sunset pulled back her device and looked forlornly at the table, “I’m not sure about the dress actually. It’s possible that she came here through some other method. It would mean she found it extremely necessary to expedite herself to stop something catastrophic from happening. Though I doubt it, she hasn’t sent me anything through the book about coming here like that. She would have told me if something was so bad she’d be coming here.”
“Who’s coming to visit?” Dash asked as she popped a seat next to her.
Fluttershy followed suit along with Pinkie Pie who had two trays of lunch on her. One balanced on top of her curly pink hair and the other in her hands. Before Sunset could ask as to why she balanced a food tray like that, one of them ended up before her set with everything to satisfy a growing girl’s body. Since the dreams had started plaguing her, the party girl had become a sort of life saver for Sunset. Something she couldn’t understand why she went out of her way for her. Though who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Mustering a thankful smile for the food before going back down the rabbit hole, “I want to wait until Rarity gets here first before we dive into this. But check this out.”
She held her phone for the others to see, most of which were confused looks.
“When did she get back? It hasn’t even been that long.” Dash raised an eyebrow as she bit into a loaded sandwich.
“Oh, is she trying to become friends with the Dazzlings? I think that’s such a good thing, who knows what kind of life they’ve had to live without their voices.” Flutteryshy seemed rather happy for the possible scene.
“Why? They practically turned the school into their little buffet and soon to be servants! Those three got what they deserve and more if you ask me.” The prismatic haired girl scoffed with a chip in her shoulder.
“You think Twilight’s helping them?” Sunset decided to consider the timid animal person’s point of view.
When the table set its eyes on her, she realized she made the mistake of opening her mouth. Looking away and feeling under pressure, Fluttershy answered with a low shaky voice.
“I…I…um… it’s like… they did do harm of course. But they were born that way, it would be like asking a lion to not hunt and eat vegetables. They may be regular girls now, but life… um… must be difficult? If that’s okay to say that…”
If the others hadn’t had someone like Fluttershy to bring a fresh idea to the table as she’d done, they’d have quite the narrow view of others. For that Sunset didn’t jump the gun in reaction as a certain someone did. 
“What? You’re kidding flutters? They’re girls like us.” Dash looked with an emotionless face as if she’d heard the most insipid thing in her entire life.
“Look Flutteryshy, I understand what you mean, but they are not some wild animal that has to have negative energy. Sirens are as sentient as any human or pony, they have choices to make and they can sustain themselves on physical means just as well. Sure it’s in their nature to sow disharmony and thrive off it, but that’s no excuse to give them a free pass for choosing to do it.” Sunset said with a calm and understanding tone.
“I think I only caught half of that, but I’m with Sunny here. Those three could have gone on with life like us, so I ain’t gonna feel nothing for them. Siren’s or no.” Dash stood firm in her belief as Applejack shook her head in disagreement.
“I only meant that we should at least see their perspective for ourselves and tried to help them like we did you.” Shy wore a growing gaze of confidence as the topic delved into the nature of the sirens, her way with animals just seemed to fill her spirit to debate.
“Fluttershy, I know what your aiming to get across. And your right, we all could have done something for them with their powers gone. I’m sure they were scared and confused without their songs to get through in this world, and they probably needed a friend to push them into the right direction. I know what they probably went through better than anyone here, but there is something you all should know first.” Sunset was about to mention last night when the girl of the hour appeared.
“I do hope I’m not interrupting anything?” Rarity asked with a lunch tray and her phone in hand.
As everyone greeted the fashionista and made room for her to sit, Fluttershy eased back into her less assertive personality. Choosing to go back to her food and observe what more Sunset had to say. Having Shimmer admit she was right was a plus for her and enough to know the others could start to think the same. After as much as Sunset worried about them causing trouble, the talks she gave about Sirens over the past couple of weeks had her thinking them as creatures turned human rather than a pony in comparison. For reasons she saw misunderstood beings, and quite possibly ones who could even live alongside with ponies or humans if they fed in a beneficial way. Though she dared not speak of such things with how the group still handled the Dazzlings as a danger.
“Actually Rarity, we’ve been waiting for you.” Shimmer said anxiously.
“Ya, with how big a deal you made things sound I’m mighty interested in this whole deal with Twilight and the sirens.” Applejack added.
“Oh! Here…” she quickly brought her phone for everyone to see as she activated the voice memo feature, “I managed to record some of their conversation. I’m afraid it’s not anything I can believe myself though, it can’t be our Twilight with them.”
“Now I’m interested, play the recording already!” Dash propped herself on the tabletop with her arms to hover over the screen.
“It would seem we’ve lost our little Twilight…” Rarity said with a grim and dower tone.
As the girls stayed silent, the audio started and recanted the meeting. The utter look of disbelief was true to Rarity’s word, and it turned the whole issue with the Dazzlings into Sunsets favor. However, winning their unconditional help to deal with the resurgence was actually not a welcomed thing. It meant they had the villains back once more and Twilight was somehow in support of them with a third party supplying the gems. Where the gems were being gathered was another issue for later, as were the magical artifacts.
Once the entire clip ended, with a little into Twilight’s life in this world. The collective sigh of relief came over everyone when they realized this was the human version that was born human. The very idea of the Princess of Friendship helping the chaos creators was an unthinkable reality.
“Okay, so it’s not our Twilight helping them so that’s a plus.” Applejack sat back satisfied with that knowledge.
“And that’s your most dire concern? They have their gems back and more! That means we gotta find them and hit them with the good ole sweet magic again! Gonna rock out loud and defeat some baddies!” Rainbow pumped her fists in excitement.
“I guess I have to hand it to you Sunset, you sure did know there was something wrong after you were mugged at that café by some hooligan.” Rarity spoke up with a friendly smile.
“I really wish I wasn’t though, because now its narrowed things down and what remains is not a pleasant thought.” She sighed taking a drink of orange juice.
“Whatcha talkin about sugar cube? We know what’s happening now so we can stop it before they grow too powerful right?” the farm girl said innocently unaware.
Before she could answer, it dawned on her that Pinkie hadn’t said a word and simply kept to her many sweet treats and the one lone honey covered burger. The other four girls went on with the topic and how to possibly deal with the sirens. Like a cat that caught her tongue, she glanced at her friend who stared at nothing as everyone became consumed by the likelihood of another epic battle.
“Pinkie Pie? Are you okay?” Sunset asked which drew the others from their chatter.
The blue eyed girl slowly looked to the attentive group of friends and slowly stopped chewing on a muffin she was working through. Swallowing the food in her mouth she burst into her characteristic triad of Pinkie logic.
“I already knew it couldn’t have been the Twilight Sparkle before Rarity’s recording because Twilight would have come and said hello and told us about what she was doing. But she didn’t and Rarity found her siding and aiding the Dazzlings as if they were good ole chums since kindergarden and they were even asking about her family too which means they’re either not evil or accepted her because some big baddie is using them to do some huge villainous plot to get into our Twilights world to wreak untold havoc!”
As usual whenever Pinkie Pie said her peace in such a near breathless manner, no one had words to respond. They simply watched her go back to eating and let her short speech dig in and stew. She broke the ice which Sunset was about to do herself, though now all the girls looked to her for answers.
“Well this segued into something that makes this situation even more dangerous.” She said as her food sat before her mostly untouched.
“We’ll we ain’t getting any younger, spill the beans!” Dash pushed as she downed what was left of her lunch with eagerness.
Applejack nodded and Fluttershy watched her when it seemed like the alarm was only going to be louder now.
“It’s going to take a lot longer to go through everything I have to say. If we could all later meet up somewhere? It’s really important, because last night I had a confirmation that there are others like the Dazzlings trapped in your world. I’m worried they’ve formed some kind of league or other and are going to do something that involves those three. I encountered two of them when I was alone in my dorm, dark magic was used and I was given a warning.” She spoke with a sullen mood.
“So yer positive of this?” Applejack asked and received a short nod.
“I don’t have practice after school, so I can make it. How about Sugar Cube Corner?” Dash offered.
“Oh my! You’re not hurt by them are you?” Fluttershy asked as caring as ever which renewed everyone’s attention upon her again.
“Yes I am Applejack, I was trying to figure out who could have stolen the gem when someone sent a dream demon when I was in meditation. Someone was controlling the spell, but I managed to get them out of my mind before they could do any damage. Sugar Cube Corner it is, and don’t worry everyone. It lost its ability to sustain itself after a moment, using such dark magic like that needs a lot of mana. Which they thankfully had limited amounts of.” She said before the bell rang.
Students in the lunch room started to leave, tossing their rubbish away. As every little click and group of teenagers sauntered out in their own pace, the girls remained just long enough to ensure they knew they had to meet later and where. Sunset had more to add, but with class calling she left the discussion at that. For now, the dominos were being stacked into a very long line, and it was making the future look very grim.